Another name for "Resource Room?"

Closet (evil grin),
sorry sorry sorry….

—des
ducking and running

Your district will let you change the name Resource Room?? Do you have to change all the IEPs to reflect the name change??

No, I’m not looking for an “official,” IEP-type change. I am just trying to think of another name the kids can use. For example, I have a friend who calls her Resource Room “S.T.A.R.,” which stand for “Students Together Achieve Respect.” I wasn’t sure if I liked that acronym especially, but that’s the general idea. I have a lot of new students coming up this year, and a lot of new staff members as well, so I figured if I was going to change our name, this was the year to do it. :D

It doesn’t matter what you call it. If there is a bad connotation to “resource room” this year, there will be a bad connotation to “center for personal empowerment” or whatever else you choose next year. Remember that “special education” and “resource room” ARE terms invented only a short while ago to replace other older terms that had become negative.
Better to try to change your students’ achievement and boost their self-confidence based on reality, and change the school culture by providing models of success.

“Learning Center” :D

I have considered labeling my room something simple like “Learning Lab”.

Janis

My classroom isn’t called anything…..no resource center…no learning lab….it’s just Room 212.

I know a teacher who calls hers the “Creative Learning Center” CLC

My classroom was always “Miss Jones’ room.” (My website, on the other hand, is the Resource Room and I rather like the name :-))
I rather agree that shifting semantics isn’t what shifts attitudes (at least not by itself). However, if it’s part and parcel of a consistent effort to foster effort & achievement, then I’d think of something that reflected the essence of what I wanted my room to be (hmm… “Space Station Seventh Grade?”… p’raps not :-)) — or I’d come up with half a dozen ideas and then solicit even more from the students and have ‘em vote on it. It’s their room, after all. If they seem more inclined to come up wtih negative names, I’d sense a red flag and avoid coming up with something altogether too positive to impose on them, lest it be something out of 1984 (or, sigh, the realities of 2004) and serve as mocking irony and a symbol of teachers who were clueless to the realities of being in special ed.

Jana,

I requested that my room be called The Liberty Lab because our school is Independence Elementary. The name is posted on the window of both doors and the response has been very positive from the students, parents and faculty. I didn’t change the name from anything, I just simply assigned a name for my classroom and it works.

Judy :P

My room does not have a specific name. Just Ms. Smith’s room. The kids say I have to go to reading or studyskills, depending on their class. So many kids get pulled out now with AIS and other extra’s that in our building my room does not stand out. By the way I am the only special ed. class in the building. It is more of an attitude that everyone has-including the reg. ed staff. My students ask me when they can come to my room.
Michele

Hi, Jana,

During the years I taught special education at a high school level, my resource room was known as “The Center.” I always thought that somehow, that name had a significant ring to it. It never worked as well, though, when I worked at middle and elementary levels. At those levels, my room was just known as Mrs. Gauvin’s room. That was good, too, because all the other rooms were known basically by the teachers’ names as well. We all seemed to be on a par with each other.

I always found that the importance was not in the name but in the familiarity with the teacher and with the students.

Hope this helps!

Sandy
www.ldperspectives.com

Hi,

Are you talking about your physical classroom name, like “Room 12,” or the name of a pull-out self-contained class period?

This may sound weird, but we (at middle school) call our LD “study hall” class “Unique Skills.” I don’t know why. :) It’s a goofy name, but I’ve discovered that the good part is that it’s so odd and cryptic that it doesn’t immediately suggest “special ed.” It doesn’t seem like that would be the case, but it’s true.

Once, in an inclusion class, a regular ed. student overhead me asking one of my new LD students if he had “Unique Skills.” The regular ed. student asked, “What’s Unique Skills?” I replied, “It’s like a study hall that takes place of one of your electives.” The kid said, “Oh,” and that was the end of it.

Wow! You guys are awesome - thanks for all the great suggestions! I will share your suggestions with my class, and we’ll see what name we choose. :D

Thanks again, and have a great school year!

- Jana

I understand where you are coming from. Another name would be great. Unfortunantly, the kids are already used to that name and the students not in the resource room are also familiar with what resource is all about. I would like to see general ed. kids more accepting and respectful toward the kids in resource. They currently don’t see them as equals. I think the whole system needs to change in order for others to see the kids as equals. Good Luck! Let me know if you figure out something that works.